Scott Wedgewood is a gearhead.
Goalie gear, that is. The NHL’s announcement Wednesday that the Colorado Avalanche will play in the 2027 Winter Classic against the Utah Mammoth at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium is big news for Wedgewood for two different reasons.
For one, he’s never participated in one of the NHL’s outdoor games. But this also means another chance for him to flex his creativity with his goaltending equipment.
“What is my gear going to be like?” Wedgewood said when asked what his initial reaction to the news was. “It’s really cool. … I’ve missed them on a couple different teams, either showed up a year early or a year late. So with the (contract) extension, obviously I’m pumped to be part of it.”
This will be the fourth outdoor game for the Avalanche, but the first Winter Classic. They’ve played at Coors Field, Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy and on the banks of Lake Tahoe.
The attendance at Coors Field was 50,095, but the capacity at Rice-Eccles is slightly larger. The Winter Classic also generally gets a little more attention because it’s typically on Jan. 1 or 2 — the league hasn’t set the date for next year yet — and is generally considered the NHL’s marquee regular-season game every year.
“It’s pretty cool,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “I’ve never played in a Winter Classic. We’ve had some outdoor games … I think it will be a great atmosphere there. They picked a great venue. It’s a good rivalry. Should be fun.”
Wedgewood has already worn several sets of equipment this season. He began this season using white pads, but he now has a dark blue setup for the division rival games, brown pads for the Nordiques Heritage Nights and most recently added a burgundy setup.
He also has multiple masks, which came in handy last week in Raleigh when a shot dented the bar in front of his face. Every NHL goaltender typically has a new mask for the outdoor games, and Wedgewood certainly won’t miss the chance for new pads, either.
“It’s hard now because I did the retro with the Nordiques (uniforms),” Wedgewood said. “Once I figure out what they do for the jerseys, it will obviously tie in. This maroon set is quickly becoming my favorite, but I always try to come up with something different with masks and things like that.
“The retro is always cool. … I know with the goalies, the day before is always cool with the Go Pros and the toques on (at practice), all that stuff with the families. I’ve got buddies and parents who were like, ‘I need tickets to this.’ And I was like, ‘It was literally announced four hours ago. There are no tickets yet.’ We’ll figure it out.”
When the NHL announced the 2027 Stadium Series game will be in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium, having the Avs as the opponent for the Dallas Stars certainly made sense. That is Colorado’s biggest rival right now, both on the ice and among the fan bases.
But the geographic proximity of Utah and Colorado makes for a potentially great rivalry as well. It will take a playoff series or two before the roots of a rivalry really take hold, but playing in a marquee event like this won’t hurt, either.
“Yeah, why not? I like it,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s a long season. It seems like your preparation for games is a lot of the same. It kind of breaks the monotony. It’s an exciting game to play in. It’s an exciting game for fans and families to travel into.
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FOOTNOTES: The Avs are still without forwards Gabe Landeskog and Joel Kiviranta, defenseman Devon Toews and goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood. Bednar said they are all week-to-week after the morning skate Thursday.
He doesn’t have a set timeline for any of them, but Blackwood could be back in a week or so, Toews and Kiviranta could return at around the same time — well before the 2026 Winter Olympics — while Landeskog is the furthest away. The coach hopes his captain will be able to play for Sweden in Milan, but it’s too early to tell.
Bednar did not have an update on forward Logan O’Connor who has missed the entire season to date after a second injury occurred while he was recovering from offseason hip surgery.
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